How deep is my love for Lounge: What Daddy never taught me I pass YouTube to you: toilet rim jets

[UTUSN]

What I've learned over 71 yrs has been the hard way of knocking head on cinder block walls, listening to eliciting from craftsmen at Happy Hours, and over-paying the first time around. So every inch of my little shack has been re-done and touched by all these sources and now (at this late date) is just the way I want it. What's left is this slow motion commode (Navy word = "head" ) and was prepared to do the usual, replace item with a new one. So my usual m.o. (talking, asking, googling) led me to this: That probably "rim jets" are clogged with calcium/lime/rust, and, no, I'm not going to do the groady thing of using a coat hanger or other metal thing to poke at each one of those rim holes. I didn't even know that rim holes existed. Anyway, skipping past countless details, there's this upright tube inside the tank that feeds directly to the rim holes, and something like an acidic product can be poured into that tube where it soaks into the rim jets. But a DU friendly eco-alternative is use natural vinegar. Here, my gift, let this man tell all about it, you're welcome:

[MarvinGardens]

1. Thank you!

I have a lazy-flush toilet that I am putting off replacing. I am going to try that.

Edit to add: All, please wear safety glasses when using any acidic or basic (alkali) cleaning product as depicted in the video.

[UTUSN]

2. Google & YouTube are gems: Some of the acid products can damage the soft joints

Vinegar appears to be a baby step, at least. Something else about baking soda. Careful about mixing chemicals.

[MarvinGardens]

3. Yes, I will try the vinegar first.

It's so much less hazardous. I am a chemist so I am not afraid of harsher things but have a healthy respect. I made a homemade formulation for cleaning my shower that worked great and required no physical effort, but each time I would use it I would wear gloves and safety glasses, and would still sustain minor chemical burns plus lung irritation. I decided it was too dangerous. I would rather use milder store-bought products and just scrub harder.

[UTUSN]

4. You are a person of usefulness and constructive curiosity, pleasure meeting you!

[MarvinGardens]

7. Pleasure meeting you as well!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. You can inspect those rim jet ports.....

using a dental or other small mirror and a flashlight, and it's also instructive to flush the toilet while watching the flow from each port this way. If they're plugged significantly, it will be pretty obvious.

If I find any flowing slowly, I will use a kitchen brush made to clean drinking straws, dip the brush in CLR or other lime scale remover liquid and brush it into the slow ports (and, of course use rubber gloves and eye protection). I feel it's safer that way to avoid gasket damage.
-----
One hard-earned lesson learned about household chemicals: a friend was using Clorox Cleanup spray on their kitchen sinks regularly. I had installed a very nice new faucet set on that sink a few years before, then the faucet rotation joint became extremely stiff to turn (the faucet head normally rotates between the two sinks). Bottom line is I determined the chlorine in the Clorox product had caused the rubber O-rings to swell and bind up. Took me quite a while to rebuild the faucet and so, they no longer use that product in their sinks and I sure as hell don't use it in mine (409 cleaner does not seem to cause that issue).

............

[Laffy Kat]

6. So glad I watched this! I have hard water and get rims around my bowl that are hard to remove.

Once again, vinegar is our friend.